@Px4 im building one for the garage as well. FYI the bottom of the one in the pic is an IKEA stool we had.

@missliterallywho our 2yo goes to sleep without much fuss. I think most of the controversy is about doing it before 1. I could be mistaken.

@missliterallywho @Prestor John yes you guys are absolutely right, my mom is actually a pediatric NP, so we had a great resource. She told us that you shouldn’t attempt to let a baby cry it out until they are old enough to sleep through the night without needing to eat. Usually 6 months old at absolute minimum. And only after you make sure their other needs have been met, they’re fed, not too warm/cool, in a dry/clean diaper, etc. A child that is crying ONLY for comfort at bedtime, IMO it’s ok to begin letting them cry it out. Learning to self soothe is actually an important skill that they need to learn. I will say that it’s hard to listen to your child cry, but eventually they all have to sleep on their own. The “timer” system my wife and I used was a happy medium between having them cry vs sleeping in our room forever

we haven't ever let ours cry it out, but no dis to you whatsoever @Px4 . im glad you guys found what works for you. i dont coddle mine, i try not to. they're all boys and they're still tough as nails even though i gave them a full two years each of nursing and co-sleeping. imo the first one is the most difficult. after that, the younger ones strive to be like big brother or big sis so its easier to wean them from the various milestones...

as for parents having their bed back, alone together--- i say we just have to acknowledge that there are different seasons of our lives/ relationships and its not always going to be like the honeymoon... couples can still find ways to be together in another space of the house. afterall, the point of marriage is to have children...

@Volkmom it took me a bit to come around to your way of thinking since my wife and I had planned to parent very differently. I saw her rejection of sleep training, nursing until almost 2, and then co-sleeping as coddling and soft but I went along with it because she is at home with them. I couldn’t have been more wrong. My son is tougher, stronger and more confident than kids twice his age. I’m convinced Moms milk gave him the strength and knowing he has a home base gives him the confidence. That’s not to say kids SA can’t be those thing when raised differently. It just works for us, except the lack of sleep right now.

@Volkmom none taken! Discussion is great, two very different schools of thought, two very different approaches towards meeting the same goal...happy, well adjusted, confident huwhyte children. @Prestor John I agree with you both, breastfeeding is so vital. Formula has its place but any amount of breast milk is better than none IMO. Curious as to your guys’ opinion on spanking? My siblings and I were spanked as children but very rarely. It was like the nuclear option for my parents, that’s kind of how we’ve been doing it with our son, when he needs discipline he first gets a sort of time-out, which isn’t really a punishment, more of a re-direct. One of us will sit with him in the rocking chair and talk about why we don’t (pester the dog, stand on the coffee table, take sissy’s toys..etc) after that we go back out to play. If he continues the behavior he gets one very clear, stern warning, we make sure that we have eye contact and he knows what he’s being warned about. If he still continues, he gets a spanking, a couple of firm swats across his diapered behind usually does the trick. We’ve been very consistent with the redirect, warning, spanking. And after a few times of that, we very rarely ever get past the warning stage anymore. I think once he realized that we weren’t kidding, he thinks twice before we get to that point lol

Only asking because I was at the grocery store earlier and a girl I’m guessing around 4 was having a full on tantrum in the store, her mom was pretty much ignoring it, but the dad was doing the “ok that’s the last time, I meant it! Don’t do that, stop it, alright I’m counting to three, one two three, alright that’s it! This is your final warning...”

I know my mom would have pulled me out of that cart and spanked me in front of everyone without a second thought, thankfully our 2yo is far too curious at the store to be getting upset.

@Px4 we have not crossed that bridge yet. Our oldest is still under 2. My wife and I were both spanked but she is now opposed I am not. My feeling is that as long as it is consistent and controlled spanking is a good thing. I was only spanked 2-3 times and was a fairly well behaved child.

I spank my kids while they’re young just use it as a sort of thing that lets them know they’re in trouble not to punish them with pain. When they get older I use work (academic and physical), taking away some of there toys or other pleasures as well as push ups and running as punishment.

@JesseJames that's what my dad did with me. spanking until I was 8, then just various types of grounding and what-not

One unique thing I remember was one time I was bugging him while he needed to make phone calls or something, so he taught me how to do long division and made me do a bunch of long division problems for a few hours.

Same. I think it worked great on me so I continue with it. One difference is I can keep my cool with my kids much better than my father could.

Yeah don’t spank angry

^ wish you’d told my pop that 30 years ago. Lol

Lol, one of those hard learned lessons

We’ve all been there.

@Prestor John Very nice! Glad to hear it! I totally agree. I have also seen some weirdo, typical liberal, parents take these ideas way too far. Definitely have to strike a balance. I think extended breastfeeding is great and the American Academy of Pediatrics now backs it up, which is great. But IMO weaning should be complete before the third birthday.

@Px4 Spanking has happened occasionally, usually if it was a quick dangerous situation. Such as the time my son was being rotten and attempting to run away from me in a parking lot. he was 2 and he ran away from me as I was helping him into the car. That was a sharp, quick, mama bear nip, as I think of it. Times like that make sense... As for a spank as a punishment, it can work for some children who respond to just the first spank, never needing to receive another one. I was that type of child. I was only spanked once or twice, and was quite well behaved. But a lot of children just don't respond to spanking and it can turn sour when your last attempt at solving the issue is spanking, and spanking no longer works.

If you spanking every day there is an issue that spanking won’t solve.

My sister and I were never spanked, it is definitely possible to raise healthy children without spanking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf7uq9NUOnY

Off the wall idea: IE Au-pair-Mädchen program. We are considering hiring an au pair as we do not have a ton of family support and have 2 under 2. Is this crazy or a building block for building a close knit society?

@Prestor John That's a great idea

We would need a coordinator who vetted the family and the applicants. But other than that it’s pretty straight forward. @missliterallywho would you be willing to ask around the woman’s server to see if there is interest?

@Prestor John I have been thinking this very same thing!

@Volkmom what do you say? Also, good morning :)🌞

sure!

been busy with homeschool, sorryguys

My wife is 37 weeks pregnant as of this Thursday. What are some tips y’all can give me for being prepared for this final stage. I already have car seats, diapers, all that kind of obvious stuff.

Grats @Grossly Incandescent!

Home stretch

Can’t wait!

Lel

Thanks for the advice @missliterallywho and congratulations!

But have you run a marathon?

Can anyone recommend a homeschool curriculum that would pass New York states stringent (anti) homeschool requirements?

@Jonaltright I want to use this one with my kids http://greatbooksacademy.org/

There's also an augmented one, Angelicus Academy, that comes with theology as well

Awesome this looks good!

Haha

There are plenty of fat people who have elected surgery over running a marathon.

Would this be the proper channel for discussing how to deal with parents?
Not in a teenage angst sort of way, the much more serious "I'm 30+ and my 60+ boomer mom is actually suffering severe, near-complete short term memory loss."

@Wood-Ape - OK/MN I'm sorry to hear that. Sure maybe our fellow members can help from their perspective as parents.

Yeah, it would just be complaining. Mom and dad have been to many doctors appointments, but my mom refuses to take positive steps that could improve her situation or at least prevent it from worsening. She doesn't exercise, she doesn't volunteer (she's retired), or do a hobby, or read. She just smartphones and watches basic boomer day time TV.

I know it can indeed be frustrating... At least she has access to a smart phone,that's something as far as other information. My dad won't do squat but is probably much older at 78. I'm in full caretaker mode though basically now since he has lived with us the fast 4yrs,but more so the past year.All he does is watch TV all day,refuses to excercise,do any type of hobby or sit outside for sunshine. I have to treat him like a lil kid anymore tell him to shower,eat,everything..

I've gotten him train puzzles,etc,but he won't do them. And only a few times has he decided to play a board game with us..he just wants to lay in bed and zone out on tv,rarely reads anything at all anymore..

But he alao has severe emphysema, so can't do alot of things but he still could do some thingsif he really wanted to but he won't. I have to push him to get anything done..

Damn, that sound really rough. Luckily my mom hasn't yet developed any other conditions, although being an inactive female elder has wrecked her posture and I worry about her bones.

My mom does play sudoku, but far more on FaceBook

Ya not easy,likebi said more advanced. That's an understandable as you want the best for her. If you can try to get her more interested in seeing other family,that helps some. At least she does games thats good,helps keep the brain active

I should also state my dad is in the beginnings of Alzheimer's, so we started him on meds 2 months ago and it has kept it stalled for now.

Try to find something she is interested in that might pique her interest. I at least tried with my dad. Hopefully your mom,likely much younger,you can find something that might help get her curious..

See if she would want to do any volunteer with something she likes or if there is grandkids activities, that usually helps make them smile and gets them interested at least some i have found.

Maybe board games? Card games?

She says she has no time... but she does nothing all day. It is bizarre.

Lol ya i know ...it makes no sense..

There must be something that still peeks her interest, you just have to find it,hopefully

What about Painting Ceramics or something? Any old hobbies she might like to try to pick up again? Knitting,anything?

Or what about possibly finding some old friends of hers?

My dad has moved away from where we grew up,so that's not really there. He used to be very social too,not anymore though. He also used to sit out in livingroom with us,now he won't except for occasionally here n there like when we come back from a doctor appt or family gathering,rtc.

And unfortunately he won't respind to my Aunt Monique's letters or bd cards anymore,he didn't want to go to his brother's funeral back in January, which i tried to understand but it still hurt. He lived with them for a few years before moving in with us,also prior to him driving with his trailor around the us. So he has really with drawn alot,he used to be part of "Escapes" trailer group for older folks,so.. used to love traveling..

I wish you the best. Maybe you can find some older new friends she might like to get to know,that may help..

Thanks. My dad is retiring this year. I hope more frequent vacations and maybe a move to the city will help her. But as a son I can't force her to make necessary lifestyle changes.

Your welcome. Yes i bet once they get to do more vacations when he retires,it will help change her outlook and bring her out of her hole. Unfortunately its its something she has to want to do,but as her son,you do care and want her happy. Until then,maybe talk to your dad and see if there is something he can help suggest too,ya never know.. Hang in there 😉🤞❤

Congratulations @missliterallywho

!!!

> She says she has no time... but she does nothing all day.

This is my boomer mom exactly.

I've once read of playing music on an instrument being shown to delay the onset of Alzheimer's?

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4354683/

Although here it says it only applied to people with 10 or more years of active experience, your Boomer mom better get started soon haha.

Oh and also dementia

I purposely play my music loud when getting ready sometimes and walk by his room with phone in hand,to see if it helps...most times i think he just tunes it out,like he tends to do alot lately with most everything else...

My dad is such a good man and has always kept up with fitness hoping to enjoy retirement with mom. Now it seems he will caretake her just as he did his own mother. Quite a sad state of affairs.

I'm sorry, definitely not easy...

I posted this in the national servers general chat but I’m going to repost it here as well. I’ve had the idea of writing non degenerate children’s books for a while now, and recently I reached out to Arktos to see if this would be something they’d possibly publish and they said yes! If you have ideas in regards to this or want to help however you can please feel free to message me!

@Grossly Incandescent Retard/lazy-bum question but who's/what's Arktos?

@Mikolas They publish right wing books

Arktos publishing is /our publisher/

Their motto is making anti globalism global

Ugh don't have the red and white pill emotes when ya' need em lol.

Lol

But that's great news!

But how great would it be to read books to our kiddos that we all had a hand in creating?

Especially in this day when gender non conforming bs is being shoe horned into children’s literature

For starters, how about a tale about a kid running away from his forest tribe to another, (he did something bad and got rejected/shamed, idk) finding out he doesn't feel at home with a different people, and returning back to his loving family and accepting responsibility for his actions?

Or a her

idk

but theres a good theme/plot/motto there lol

Yeah, we can express our ideas without making it super explicit. Like little dude explores the world, meets peoples from all over and experiences their countries, but in the end is happy to return home to his family

Also just presenting the right role models on nonfiction educational books would be a good place to start. Most top-tier powerlifters are white, for example.

Tesla is an embodiment of the Faustian spirit

Heck, do a kids book on the Faustian spirit, but that might be a lil' too explicit for the time being haha.

I believe I'm capable of the writing involved, but probably not the art.

(in general for any kids' book project.)

how about a book about how the majority white San Francisco populace helped each other during the 1906 earthquake?

@Grossly Incandescent

Voyageurs and Mountain Men are always interesting as well as Cowboys.
Maybe books with youth narrators / main characters that witness/participate in historic events. Like an expedition of Louisiana territory, or Captain Cook's voyage?

Also is the publishing process with Arktos based on royalties from sales or is there an initial fee involved? In other words, would crowdfunding from IE members be useful?

I haven’t discussed with them funding the project, but when we get to that point I was planning on reaching out to the IE higher ups about being the initial investors

He was one of the first people I reached out to about this! He does such great work for IE I’d love for him to be a part of this project

It is very needed. I sat down to read my niece a book that her mother (my sister) had never looked at. Basically it was a very clumsy allegory for bisexuality, (it's about a unicorn that likes to "party" with both narwhal and unicorns).